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With over 44 million Americans owing $1.5 trillion in student debt, few industries are as primed for innovation as the student loan industry. Yet it remains dominated by behemoths like Navient (Sallie Mae's loan servicing spinoff).

Looking to become the leader in student loan reform, online lender CommonBond, which finances and refinances undergraduate and graduate student loans, announced today that it had acquired Generation Z financial advice company NextGenVest. The company's founder Kelly Peeler will join CommonBond as Vice President of NextGen.

"Right now CommonBond's target market is the millennial generation," explained CommonBond cofounder and CEO David Klein. "Tomorrow's millennials are Gen Z, and Kelly's team has a proven ability to engage with Generation Z in a way we haven't seen anyone else engage."

Peeler founded NextGenVest after working at JPMorgan Chase right after the 2008 crash. Witnessing predatory lending running rampant in the student loan market, she set out to create a financial advice company to help Gen Z better navigate the financial aid process via text message. The AI powered platform has advisers available 24/7.

The acquisition will enable Peeler's team to take the next step in moving beyond advice to providing actual loans. CommonBond was named to Forbes' 2018 Fintech 50 list, noting their five-year, fixed-rate refinancing ranging from 3.18% to 5.65% (with no origination fees), and five-year, fixed-rate original undergraduate and graduate loans with rates ranging from about 5% to 8% (with a 2% origination fee). They have serviced over $2.5 billion in loans to date, with the fewer than ten defaults.

NextGenVest Founder and CEO Kelly Peeler was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneur... [+] List in 2018.

Jamel Toppin

"What we found through our millions and millions of text message conversations is that students didn't want us to just give them recommendations. They wanted us to literally help them sign up for something," said Peeler, who was named to the Forbes'2018 30 Under 30 List. "That was something that got us really excited about talking to CommonBond, which can actually provide that product or that loan in a trusted way."

The acquisition is the second for CommonBond, which acquired personal finance startup Gradible in 2016. Gradible provides advice on best repayment plans and Klein claims the acquisition helped them to become the first US lender to provide impartial advice on repayment programs, including shepherding lenders to non-CommonBond programs. NextGen will similarly continue to provide loan servicer-agnostic advice.

Despite acquisition talks with other companies, Peeler remains confident that CommonBond's social impact-minded mission will provide the best partnership for her company's continued impact.

"We really chose CommonBond and CommonBond chose us," Peeler told Forbes. "We were talking to other folks and really just thought that vision, culture, and putting the customer first and foremost was aligned the most strongly to have our home be here."

As an associate editor at Forbes, I cover young entrepreneurs and edit the 30 Under 30 lists. I'm particularly interested in companies finding unique ways to make our

…

As an associate editor at Forbes, I cover young entrepreneurs and edit the 30 Under 30 lists. I'm particularly interested in companies finding unique ways to make our world more sustainable. I previously wrote for The American Lawyer, Corporate Counsel and the Weekend Argus in Cape Town, South Africa. I graduated from Northwestern University where I studied Journalism, Environmental Policy and Political Science. Follow me on Twitter @AlexandraNWil.